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"Balls"
"Balls" Ltd. (sometimes called Balls, formerly "Balls", LLC. and "Balls" Inc.), is an American (formerly multinational) video game developer and publisher, and before July 2015, licensor and distributor. Founded in 1981 by Michael Wildshill, John Harris and Bill Williams, "Balls" is known for the Balls series and used to hold the license to make Greeny Phatom video games. The company is located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. History "Balls" was founded in 1981 by Michael Wildshill (a former employee at Atari), Bill Williams and John Harris (then-employee at On-Line Systems) as a company specializing in video compression and non-linear editing systems, particularly for Acorn Archimedes computers. "Balls" made its first game called Balls., and made a series out of them. In 1982, when On-Line Systems was becoming Sierra On-Line, "Balls" hired many employees from On-Line Systems. They hired employees again, this time, from Atari, in 1984, when Atari, Inc. was closing down. In August 1994, "Balls" was acquired by Fox Interactive and Universal Interactive Studios, and two years later, the Geo Adventure ''series was made using the GeoBob Engine. In 1995, "Balls" moved from their original headquarters in San Jose to new offices in Culver City. In 1998, Bill Williams, the co-founder of the company, died and games released during 1998 and 1999 included a memoriam. On August 15, 2000, "Balls" ended it's contract with and spun-off from Universal Interactive Studios, and in November 7, 2011, did the same with Fox Digital Entertainment. In E3 2008, "Balls" announced a now-cancelled free-to-play MMORPG, developed by it's San Francisco studio which was closed few years later in 2010. In 2012, the remaining co-founders John Harris and Michael Wildshill formed a parent company soon to be called "Balls" Corporation. In September 2013, after Blitz Games Studios has been closed, Balls Corporation bought the Minions series, Volatile Games, TruSim, BlitzTech and Blitz Academy. In January 1st, 2014, friend of the founder (Michael Wildshill), Edward Fowly announced "Balls" to be closed in December 2014, because of financial difficulties. Sam G., a worker at "Balls" who is a cousin of Geo G., told Wildshill about this. Wildshill said that Fowly was just joking and "we had enough money". On June 11, 2014, Balls Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. After selling many studios and mergering groups to Mango, Balls Corporation is no longer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as of June 25th, 2014. During April 2014, it was reported that Activision Blizzard, Take-Two Interactive, Warner Bros, Viacom, Microsoft and Ubisoft offered to acquire Balls Corporation for undisclosed amounts (depending on what acquisition), but Balls Corporation declined the cash offer. 21st Century Fox then offered US$4 billion on May 15, 2014 to acquire the company, but was again declined. Apple Entertainment then made a successful US$16 billion bid on July 21, 2014. Balls Corporation had a short time in bankruptcy, until it was acquired by Apple Entertainment who closed and sold many units and studios. In 2015, "Balls" merged HenryGames, third of GeoBob Engine Development Team and few internal development groups to form "Balls" Game Labs, which focuses on computer science, game development and their connections. Over the years, "Balls" has made deals to develop games with various small companies, such as it's divisions: Slik Games, "Balls" of Japan, "Balls" of Europe, Wingstar Studios, Starway Games, "Balls" Game Labs and acquired many companies since mid-1990s. Company structure and studio history In January 2014, Michael announced that "Balls" is opening a New Orleans studio "sooner, maybe the following year." Unfortunately, "Balls" closed down studios from Dusseldorf, Cambridge (US), Valencia, New Taipei and Bucharest and had massive lay-offs, while the rest of the work on ''Chroma, the new IP by Harmonix, was moved to Hidden Path Entertainment. Later, employees were hired by UltraNitro Studios. Bankruptcy and liquidation controversy After several years of financial struggles, on June 11, 2014, Balls Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. At the public auction on June 21, 2014, Balls Corporation’s game development business in: *Seoul (South Korea) *West Los Angeles (Salt Lake, USA) *Istanbul (Turkey) *London (England, UK) *Bangalore (India) *Beijing (China) *McKinney (USA, remaining half of split of Zynga With Friends after acquisition by both UltraNitro Studios and "Balls") *Boston (USA) *Mountain View (USA) *Stockholm (Sweden) *Hamburg (Germany, remaining half of split of Fishlabs after acquisition by both UltraNitro Studios and "Balls") *Annecy (France) *Sydney (Australia) and few intellectual properties and unfinished projects were acquired by and merged to UltraNitro Studios, once again. Soon, the Abu Dhabi, Saigon, Nagoya, Makati, Manchester and Jakarta studios were bought by Starway Games. Geoshea Games bought game businesses in Issy-les-Moulineaux (France), Shenzen and Hangzhou (China), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Pune (India), Needham and Warrington (UK), Singapore (Singapore), Ingelheim and Mainz (Germany) and Sofia (Bulgaria). Ubisoft acquired "Balls" Studios Bucharest and merged it to Ubisoft Bucharest. Balls Corporation then closed studios at Casablanca, Sofia, Eugene, Las Vegas, Szczecin, Mexicali, Hanoi, Kharkov, Da Nang, Madrid, Johannesburg, Hong Kong, Lisbon, Warsaw, Medellin, Bogota, Taunton and Valletta during June 22nd and 24th, 2014. Then, Balls Corporation liquidated studios in New England (USA), Heusenstamm (Germany), Bydgoszcz (Poland), Sheffield (UK), Taipei (Taiwan), Camarillo (USA), Budapest (Hungary), Bristol (UK), Cheltenham (UK), New Delhi (India), Copenhagen (Denmark), Prague (Czech Republic), Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Canberra (Australia), Chengdu (China), Zurich (Switzerland), Teesside (UK), Milan (Italy), Oxford (UK) and Vienna (Austria), discontinued the "Balls" Mobile brand (and then closed mobile game studio in Bucharest following the discontinuation; "Balls" Independent Games began handling both indie games and mobile games before Apple moved all the mobile staff over to Court Games). Meanwhile, the Redwood and Guildford studios were bought by EA. The Seattle, Paris, Rotherham, Brisbane, Irvine, Darien, Gainesville, Plymouth, Kiev, "Red Storm", Frankfurt and Dallas studios were closed on June 24, 2014, following the public auction, because Balls Corporation failed to find a buyer for the studio. Afterwards, the Cluj and Kula Lumpur studios were merged to Mango's Cluj and Kuala Lumpur facilities. Later, still June 24, 2014, TDG Designer & Enviroment Group, Technical Support Group, Service Database, SP UI Development Group, GAB UI/Sound Group, IRE Planning Group, "peripheral side" of the TDG Mechanical Group, half of the TDG Hardware Development Laboratory Group, IRE Technology & Mechanical Group and Industrial Group with "Balls" EMCS's Komarom and Bochum facilities all merged to Mango, while rest of the TDG Mechanical Group, other half of the TDG Hardware Development Laboratory Group, SP Sound Orchestra, some of the GAB Sound/UI Group and SP Software Development Group merged to Game Analysis & Bug Club Group. They were said to be the biggest merger in the history of Balls Corporation. There are also other intellectual properties, assets, etc etc. sold in public auction, such as: *Distribution rights for Smash Fight 5 and Geo Adventure 2015 (acquired by Koch Media US/Deep Silver for $15 million) *A studio at Hannover (acquired by SnakeCore for $5 million; moved to and then merged to the owner a month later) *Fiox series, trademarks, brands, game library, studio of TruSim and Blitz Academy programme (acquired by Reset Studios for $2 million) *Minions series (acquired by Geoshea Games, Co. for $10 million) *BlitzTech (acquired by (and merged to) The Geoshea Studio Development Team for $5 million) *Balls series (acquired by Codemasters for $13 million. Acquired back from Codemasters in May 2015) *''Smash Fight'' series, rights of Riverside studio's upcoming game's ports to Xbox One, PSVita, PS4, Wii U, iOS and Android (acquired by SnakeCore for $12 million, game ports were eventually cancelled) *Licensing rights for Geo Adventure series (acquired by Ubisoft for $10 million) *BigPark's trademarks (and it's co-owning rights) and the staff (sold back to Microsoft Studios for $6 million) Post-Chapter 11 bankruptcy controversy Balls Corporation no longer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as of June 25, 2014. Balls Corporation acquired UTV True Games and Ignition Entertainment from UTV on June 27, 2014. Afterwards, the trademarks and brands merged but the studios didn't use "Balls" brand in their brand, as of the acquisition. The Orlando and Nottingham studios were closed on June 30, 2014, and sadly, they didn't manage to make any games. The Hyderabad and Newcastle studio were also announced to be closed in July 5th, 2014, while they did create games but also contributed on few games and the Riverside studio announced it's last game'' Geo Adventure Dimensions, which is currently on hold. IGN and Kotaku describe this as the fall of the "Balls" studios. In July 30th, "Balls" Corporation announced the closure of Volitale Games after only 9 months of activity under "Balls" Corporation, the Auckland, Wakefield, Barcelona, Dublin, Novato (Marin), East Linton, Melbourne, Bangkok & Minsk (as "Balls" Studios Belarus) studios (and Ignition studios in Texas and Tokyo), it's QA team at Novato, Mango's Komárom & Bochum facilities, "Balls" EMCS (Engineering, Manufacturing and Customer Service; closed after it's upcoming console was canceled) and it's only testing center "Balls" Beta Testing Studios USA, which was located at Las Vegas. The lay-offs hit Riverside studio in July 30th, 2014, when 80% of the staff (which was about 120 people) was laid off, but eventually 95 people moved to "Balls" Studios Montréal, while 25 people moved to Dambuster Studios, owned by Deep Silver. On July 31st, "Balls" R&D Amusement Studios at Tokyo and Chicago ceased the operations, including all of ithe nternal game development, when "Balls" discontinued the brand and ceased all of arcade game development. In August 1st, "Balls" Corporation announced that the staff of recently closed studios will be transfered (and Network Business & Service Group and European Research Group will be merged) to the new studio in Montréal, Canada. "Balls" also announced the change of opening date of Los Angeles studio from November to October. The Birmingham studio was closed (and merged 95% to "Balls" Studios Montréal and 5% was moved to Dambuster Studios) and Yager Development spun off from "Balls" the same day. In August 2nd, 2014, Mango's Los Angeles office was merged to then-upcoming Wingstar Studios Los Angeles studio. Later on, "Balls" announced that as part of a restructuring (which happened during June, July and August), the development of yet unnamed projects would be shifted from both "Balls" Studios San Diego and "Balls" Studios Camden to "Balls" Studios Dundee, and the internal game development, licensing division and contributing work on other games developed by other "Balls" studios were halted in both "Balls" Studios San Diego and "Balls" Studios Camden. Again, the staff of the studios (but 97% from San Diego studio and 95% from Toronto studio, this time) moved to Montréal studio. The projects were cancelled the same day. In August 11th, "Balls" announced that LA and Montreal studios will be opened in September 5th, rather than October and November. The Los Angeles studio focuses on arcade-action games, strategy & strategy-simulation games, leading edge games and real-time adventure games, rather than mainstream, next-gen, cutting edge and action games, which Montreal studio is working on. When the studios finally opened, they were both announced at Wingstar Studios and Wingstar Studios LA, with other development offices in Hunt Valley, Seoul and Austin. There were alot of rumors about "Balls" acquiring studios again and formed another studios in Osaka (inside "Balls" of Japan's headquarters), Orange County and Brighton. Despite all this, the closings of Balls Corporation’s studios in San Antonio, San Mateo (Slik Games) and Dundee is under review. The acquisition rumours were confirmed with acquisitions of Saturn Interactive, Westend Game Studios, and most notable acquisition, a casual game and game making website Boong.com. Then, Boong Dallas and Westend Game Studios announced their collabration, which is a multidimensional Mahjong game called Mahjong Shift. After 31st of December, 2014, John Harris announced that he will leave from "Balls" to focus on other ventures, Mauno Tuomela decided to "step down from being a CEO to being an executive producer" and the new CEO was announced to be Daniel Garcia. Lay-offs and mini-"Balls" era (2015-present) On March 29, 2015, Apple Entertainment announced plans to shut "Balls" down by the end of the year and slowly began closing or selling the company's assets. On May 7, 2015, Apple let more than 300 "Balls" staff members go. On May 9, 2015, John Harris filed a lawsuit against Apple Entertainment due to their decision to shut down "Balls". The same day, Apple spun off the former "Balls" Game Labs, which became OK Labs. On May 11th, 2015, Apple Entertainment announced it would sell most of "Balls" to Stainton Enterprises, and the case was dropped. Daniel Garcia announced the selling of "Balls" Studios Dundee and "Balls" Studios Toronto to SnakeCore, in May 11, 2015. On May 12, 2015, Stainton Enterprises and Apple Entertainment announced to merge "Balls" to Apple Entertainment and Stainton's GreenyWorld Interactive. All but 5 remaining staff members of "Balls" would get moved to OK Labs, Apple Entertainment and GreenyWorld Interactive, and that OK Labs will be in charge of all non-''Greeny Phatom IPs, games, franchises, and assets (excluding Balls franchise), and GreenyWorld Interactive will be in charge of all of the publishing, licensing, distributing and developing Greeny Phatom video games. The remaining 5 members of the "Balls" headquarters will operate the studio independently, as of July 13, 2015. The "Balls" Studios Chicago, Starway Games USA, and Wingstar Online Studios in Hunt Valley and Austin will be moved under GreenyWorld Interactive, while OK Labs will acquire Starway Games Abu Dhabi and "Balls" GAB Development Group, GAB Music Group and GAB Bug Club. The operation will be finished in June 2015. On May 14, 2015, then-CEO Daniel Garcia announced to step down as a CEO, and instead hire Zeke Ruthersford as the new CEO. Daniel and Mauno Tuomela (then-executive producer at "Balls") left to work full time at OK Labs. As "Balls", by then, was a shadow of it's former self, Zeke, the new CEO, soon ordered the 3 remaining employees to hire more employees. They soon managed to hire one ex-employee from UltraNitro Studios. Durango and Neo's supposed successor "Balls" Mars was cancelled, and Durango and Neo were discontinued, on May 29, 2015, after the patents, trademarks and designs for Mars and Ceres game consoles (and other prototypes/pitches by the ex-staff at "Balls"), with other non-Balls, non-Greeny Phatom and non-video game-related patents and trademarks, were acquired by OK Labs. On June 1, 2015, "Balls" moved it's headquarters from Culver City, California to Boston, Massachusetts. On June 12, 2015, "Balls" LLC became a public (ltd) company. On June 15, 2015, "Balls" merged it's Japanese operations, European operations, Wingstar Studios Los Angeles, Wingstar Online Studios Seoul and the Riverside studio to "Balls" Ltd's headquarters in Boston, but all (expect the 5 members of the main "Balls" headquarters) staff members were hired by OK Labs in June 20, 2015. Also on June 15, 2015, all remaining 3 employees of Wingstar Studios were hired by GreenyWorld Interactive. 2 remaining employees, Kenny "Kenmi" Miller and Josh Byron went to work at GreenyWorld Interactive's New York studio, while the last employee, Duncan Grodin, went to work at EA Canada, announcing the closure of Wingstar Studios. Fans of "Balls" speculated and said it to be the "second near-extinsion of "Balls" Ltd". On May 19, 2015, "Balls" hired couple of employees from Boston Dynamics, Nest Labs, DNNresearch, SRI International, Nuance Communications, Redwood Robotics, Flutter, DeepMind Technologies and many MIT alumnis to create a "satellite division", next to "Balls" headquarters, called Robionix. On June, OK Labs announced that it would acquire Robinoix, from "MegAI Corp." (which is the name "Balls" used as a secret owner of Robionix), in a deal worth €14 billion, along with another €30.4 billion to license Robionix's portfolio of patents; a deal totaling at over €44.4 billion. Pending regulatory approval, the acquisition was expected to close in late 2015. In March 2014, it was announced that the acquisition of Robionix would not be completed by the end of December as expected, but instead was delayed until August of 2016 due to undisclosed problems. Further the deal included 8,500 design related patents being transferred by Robionix to OK Labs, and OK Labs will license 5,000 patents by Robionix. On May 31, 2015, "Balls" developed and published Balls IX: The Final Journey, with it's many downloadable content and updates, and all downloadable content from the previous Balls games, including user-generated mods and content made for all games (excluding the first Balls game). The game is the final installment in the Balls series, and it got positive reviews. Failed acquisitions In October 2013, "Balls" tried to acquire PrimeSense for $200 million and failed. On March 2015, it was announced that "Balls" would acquire Ace Ltd and merged Ace with Starway Games Japan, to form Star-Ace. However, on May 8, 2015, the merger was called off, reportedly due to: * management team at Ace Ltd strongly disapproving the idea * and the restruction of "Balls", which had many staff leaving to work at OK Labs, therefore "shrinking" the "Balls" company, making it almost unable to continue any businesses, acquisitions and hiring. Ace Ltd's acquisition by "Balls" was cancelled. Studios Established studios *Robionix - The only non-game-related studio formed by "Balls". Created in May 19, 2015. Defunct *SIZ founded in 1994, acquired in 1997, name changed to "Balls" Studios Wellington in 1999, closed in 2001. *K-3 Productions founded in December 1985, acquired in 1997, disbanded in 2001, closed and trademarks retired in 2002. *LO Studios founded in 2003, acquired in 2005, closed in 2006. *"Balls" Studios Montreal, founded in 1998, closed in 2009. *"Balls" Studios New York, founded in 1979 as GeoLand Studios in Quincy, Massachusetts, moved to New York in 1983, acquired in 1999, name changed to "Balls" Studios New York in 2000, closed in 2011 due to financial reasons. *"Balls" Studios Vancouver, founded in 1997, closed in 2010, half of the BigPark's staff and the trademarks were acquired in 2012, BigPark replaced the Vancouver studio in 2013, the trademarks were sold back to Microsoft in a public aution in 2014. *"Balls" Studios Orlando, founded in 2001, closed in 2014. *"Balls" Studios Nottingham, founded in 2003, closed in 2014. *"Balls" Studios Birmingham, founded in 2013, closed in 2014. *"Balls" Studios San Diego, founded in 2008, closed in 2014. * "Balls" Studios Palo Alto, founded in 1995, closed in 2009. * "Balls" Studios Taiwan, founded in 1998, disbanded in 2003, closed and trademarks and copyright retired in 2011. * HenryStudios, founded in 2007 in Miami, Florida, acquired in 2011. Merged to form "Balls" Game Labs in 2015. Departured/former first-party studios *Rocksteady Studios, founded and acquired in 2004, name changed to "Balls" Studios Highgate in 2005, name changed back to Rocksteady and sold to WB Games in 2009. *Boong.com, founded in 2009, acquired in 2013. Has offices in Redwood City, Salt Lake City, Dallas, Shanghai and Hunt Valley. Sold to OK Labs on May 6, 2015. ** Boong Dallas, founded in 2012, acquired in 2013. Sold to EA and merged to Pogo Austin on May 6, 2015. ** Boong Arizona, founded as Orange Box Games at Tucson, Arizona in 2005, acquired in 2013. Sold to OK Labs on May 6, 2015. *** Boong San Diego, founded as Orange Box North in 2006, acquired in 2013. Sold to OK Labs on May 6, 2015. * Saturn Interactive, founded in 2007 in Dublin, acquired in 2014. Staff moved to Westlight Game Studios in 2015. * "Balls" Studios Dundee, founded in 2007. Sold to SnakeCore in May 2015. * "Balls" Studios Toronto, founded in 2008. Game development operations ceased in 2014, revived and sold to SnakeCore in May 2015. *"Balls" Studios New Orleans, founded in 2014, staff moved to Court Games on May 6, 2015. *Slik Games, founded in March 1993 in San Mateo, California, acquired on July 3, 1996. Bought for $900 million by OK Labs - Team Chu in May 10, 2015. **Slik Games South, established in 2003 as "Balls" Studios San Antonio. Balls Corporation renamed the studio, restructed and moved under and is now a development branch of Slik Games, as of September 2014. Now part of OK Labs - Team Chu. **Slik Games UK, established in 2002 as "Balls" Studios Manchester, sold to Starway Games and merged under Starway Games UK in 2014, sold and restructed under Slik Games in September 2014. Now part of OK Labs - Team Chu. *Starway Games UK - located at both Essex, United Kingdom. Responsible for game development, game assurance and localization. Created in 2013, bought by OK Labs - Team Chu and merged to Slik Games UK, in May 5, 2015. *Starway Games Japan - responsible for localization and game porting. Created in 2013, bought by OK Labs - Team Chu and merged to form Slik Games Japan, in May 5, 2015. *Nyriam - located at Osaka, Japan. Created in 2013, bought by OK Labs - Team Chu and merged to form Slik Games Japan, in May 5, 2015. *Starway Games Abu Dhabi, being the current co-owner with Abu Dhabi Media Group/Image Nation, the studio was bought from "Balls" in a public auction in June 2014. Bought by OK Labs as part of the "semi-liquidiation", in May 2015. *"Balls" Studios Chicago, founded in 1996. Acquired from "Balls" by and merged to GreenyWorld Interactive in June 2015. *Starway Games USA - the headquarters of the studio, located at Santa Monica, California. The studio is acquired and merged to GreenyWorld Interactive in June 2015. *Wingstar Online Studios, founded in Hunt Valley and Austin in 2014. Acquired and merged to GreenyWorld Interactive in June 2015. *Wingstar Studios Los Angeles, founded in Los Angeles in 2014. Merged to "Balls" in 2015. *Wingstar Online Studios Seoul, founded in 2014. Merged to "Balls" in 2015. *"Balls" Studios Riverside, founded in 2008. Merged to "Balls" in 2015. *"Balls" of Europe, founded in 1996. Merged to "Balls" in 2015. *"Balls" of Japan, founded in 1996. Merged to "Balls" in 2015. *Starway Games, founded in 1990, acquired in 1996. As part of the shut down of "Balls", Starway Games brand "transformed to and was re-born" as "AQ Interactive" on June 2015. *Westlight Game Studios, founded in 2009 in Porto Alegre, acquired by "Balls" in 2014. Acquired from "Balls" and retained by Apple Entertainment in June 2015. *Wingstar Studios, founded in Montréal in 2014. Brand ownership changed to Apple Entertainment in 2015, after the employees went to work at EA, GreenyWorld Interactive and OK Labs. In-house development groups Games featuring Geo Guy *''Geo 3D Cartoon Studio'' (1994, with Universal Interactive Studios) *''Geo Guy's Art Workshop'' (1995, with Universal Interactive Studios) *''Geo Crazy Puzzle'' (1995, with Universal Interactive Studios) *''Geo Guy in Fantastic Fun!'' (1996, with Universal Interactive Studios) *''Geo Adventure'' (1996, with "Balls") *''Geo Adventure 2'' (1997, with "Balls") *''Geo Adventure 3: The Rise of Gree Guy'' (1998, with Universal Interactive Studios) *''Smash Fight'' (1999, with Sony Computer Entertainment) *''Geo Quest to the Guest (1999, with Universal Interactive Studios) *Geo Guy's Crazy Games'' (2000, with Universal Interactive Studios) *''Smash Fight 2'' (2002, with Sony Computer Entertainment) *''Smash Fight 3'' (2009, with Sony Computer Entertainment) *''Smash Fight 4'' (2015, with Sony Computer Entertainment) Announcements "Balls" plans to make mobile games When the developers heard that Nintendo is announcing to make mobile games, they decide to do it to. Their first mobile game was "Greeny Phatom Kindle", which is playable on the Kindle. Their fanbase was excited about this announcement, they can't wait to play games like Greeny Phatom: The Video Game on their devices. On May 6, 2015, Apple Entertainment moved all the "Balls" mobile staff to Vigil Games, and closed the mobile division of "Balls". Trivia Main article: "Balls"/Trivia Category:Companies Category:Non-Geo's World games Category:"Balls" Wiki